The invention relates to a soot reservoir for an exhaust gas scrubbing system for an internal combustion engine, in particular a Diesel engine, of the generic type defined hereinafter.
In a known soot reservoir, or soot collector, for an exhaust gas scrubbing system (German Offenlegungsschrift 34 24 196), a removable collecting bag made of paper is placed in the housing, which is provided with many air outlet openings. The bag functions like the paper bag in vacuum cleaner bags. As soon as the paper bag is full, it is changed. The soot-filled filter bag is then burned, without toxic emissions, in a stationary combustion system. Since the collecting bag cannot filter perfectly, the filter chamber around the collecting bag gets dirty very fast, so that not only is changing the collecting bag a dirty job, but a considerable amount of soot escapes, so that some of the disposal effort is in vain.
A remedy is provided by another known soot reservoir of this generic type (German Offenlegungsschrift 35 02 448), in which the underside of the funnel-like housing, where the cross section is smaller, has a disposal spout, to which a disposal hose can be attached in order to empty the soot reservoir by suction. During operation, the disposal spout is closed with a cap. Here, although emptying the soot reservoir can be done largely without getting dirty, still it must be done at a fixed disposal station.
In both soot reservoirs, the housing must be relatively voluminous, since given an apparent density of the settled soot of approximately 40 grams per liter, the soot reservoir must have a capacity of about 1 liter, for 100 liters of Diesel fuel.